May 06, 2012

minestra di cicerchie / cicerchia soup

Cicerchia (Lathyrus sativus) is a legume that, according to this page (in Italian), was once widely consumed, while nowadays, it is grown only in central Italy.

before (bottom) and after soaking

Cicerchie are available only dried: prior to cooking, they must be soaked for 24 hours and the soaking water must be eliminated because it contains a neurotoxic amino acid (ODAP or BOAA) that can cause lathyrism. This condition was and remains a problem when and where lack of alternative food sources led to consumption of large quantities of Lathyrus. As Hank of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook says in this post: "Make these beans a special treat, not a staple, and you’ll be fine." Our consumption of cicerchie has been occasional and I follow the preparation instructions.

I got the cicerchie in the photo at Bavicchi, the store in downtown Perugia that I mentioned in this and other posts. The reference to Perugia in not accidental. In fact...

Perugia: Fontana Maggiore

our tour of the 20 regions of Italy organized by Trattoria MuVarA brings us to my home region: Umbria. If you're familiar with my blog, you know that I was born and grew up in beautiful Perugia. (This post has a few more photos of the city in the heart of Italy.)

My presentation of legumes that are traditional of Umbria already includes lenticchie di Castelluccio, fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno and roveja. To prepare cicerchia, today's legume, I consulted the repository of traditional Italian recipes, the Accademia Italiana della Cucina and there I found an Umbrian recipe for minestra di cicerchie. The English version of the recipe is available in the book by the Academy called La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy. According to the recipe headnote, cicerchie were a popular legume among Umbria peasants. As always, I altered the recipe to adjust it to my taste and ingredients, then prepared a variation of it. If you don't have cicerchie, the soup can be made with chickpeas (ceci).

Soak the cicerchie for 24 hours in 4 cups of water then drain and discard the water. Put in a saucepan and pour water to a level above the cicerchie. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Simmer, covered, until tender. The original recipe mentions a long cooking time (roughly 2 hours), which does not match my experience (less than half that time), so check the progress periodically. Also, during cooking, some of the cicerchie lost their skin and I discarded it.

Warm a bit of olive oil in another saucepan, then add garlic and herbs. Cook for a minute or so, until the garlic smells fragrant, stirring, then add the strained tomatoes. Cook into a sauce. In my case, about 8 minutes. Add the cooked cicerchie and let cook in the tomato sauce for 10 minutes, then add the stock plus enough water to make a soup of desired consistency. Continue cooking for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

I served the soup with lightly toasted slices of homemade rye bread (pane di segale), as shown in the top photo.

version with Parmigiano-Reggiano

I made a batch of tagliatelle alla borragine and cut into quadrucci (small squares) the pieces of pasta too short: my mother used to do this when she made tagliatelle, which was pretty much every Sunday.

I cooked the quadrucci in the soup (this only takes a few minutes). Before serving it, I enriched the soup with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Either way, it was a nice dinner soup, the flavor of cicerchie earthy and unique, reminiscent of both chickpeas and lentils.

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Cicerchia (Lathyrus sativus) is a legume that, according to this page (in Italian), was once widely consumed, while nowadays, it is grown only in central Italy.

before (bottom) and after soaking

Cicerchie are available only dried: prior to cooking, they must be soaked for 24 hours and the soaking water must be eliminated because it contains a neurotoxic amino acid (ODAP or BOAA) that can cause lathyrism. This condition was and remains a problem when and where lack of alternative food sources led to consumption of large quantities of Lathyrus. As Hank of Hunter Angler Gardener Cook says in this post: "Make these beans a special treat, not a staple, and you’ll be fine." Our consumption of cicerchie has been occasional and I follow the preparation instructions.

I got the cicerchie in the photo at Bavicchi, the store in downtown Perugia that I mentioned in this and other posts. The reference to Perugia in not accidental. In fact...

Perugia: Fontana Maggiore

our tour of the 20 regions of Italy organized by Trattoria MuVarA brings us to my home region: Umbria. If you're familiar with my blog, you know that I was born and grew up in beautiful Perugia. (This post has a few more photos of the city in the heart of Italy.)

My presentation of legumes that are traditional of Umbria already includes lenticchie di Castelluccio, fagiolina del Lago Trasimeno and roveja. To prepare cicerchia, today's legume, I consulted the repository of traditional Italian recipes, the Accademia Italiana della Cucina and there I found an Umbrian recipe for minestra di cicerchie. The English version of the recipe is available in the book by the Academy called La Cucina: The Regional Cooking of Italy. According to the recipe headnote, cicerchie were a popular legume among Umbria peasants. As always, I altered the recipe to adjust it to my taste and ingredients, then prepared a variation of it. If you don't have cicerchie, the soup can be made with chickpeas (ceci).

Soak the cicerchie for 24 hours in 4 cups of water then drain and discard the water. Put in a saucepan and pour water to a level above the cicerchie. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat. Simmer, covered, until tender. The original recipe mentions a long cooking time (roughly 2 hours), which does not match my experience (less than half that time), so check the progress periodically. Also, during cooking, some of the cicerchie lost their skin and I discarded it.

Warm a bit of olive oil in another saucepan, then add garlic and herbs. Cook for a minute or so, until the garlic smells fragrant, stirring, then add the strained tomatoes. Cook into a sauce. In my case, about 8 minutes. Add the cooked cicerchie and let cook in the tomato sauce for 10 minutes, then add the stock plus enough water to make a soup of desired consistency. Continue cooking for 10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately.

I served the soup with lightly toasted slices of homemade rye bread (pane di segale), as shown in the top photo.

version with Parmigiano-Reggiano

I made a batch of tagliatelle alla borragine and cut into quadrucci (small squares) the pieces of pasta too short: my mother used to do this when she made tagliatelle, which was pretty much every Sunday.

I cooked the quadrucci in the soup (this only takes a few minutes). Before serving it, I enriched the soup with Parmigiano-Reggiano. Either way, it was a nice dinner soup, the flavor of cicerchie earthy and unique, reminiscent of both chickpeas and lentils.

To use any of the photographs published in the blog permission must be obtained from Simona
No food was (nor will ever be) discarded in the process of taking the photographs, i.e., everything was consumed either immediately or in due time